2014 Honda City SV CVT Automatic - My White Unicorn

This is a discussion on 2014 Honda City SV CVT Automatic - My White Unicorn within Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; So this is my first ownership report on this forum and that too of something that has become very close ...

So this is my first ownership report on this forum and that too of something that has become very close to my heart in less than a week: My White Unicorn(2014 Honda City SV CVT iVTEC)

Little Bit of History
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We got our second kid last August 2013. My i10 has been serving me really well since the last 6 years and not to exaggerate but it was always maintained in mint condition. With 2 kids and the desire to go around Bangalore from short weekend trips to week long trips, I knew that my i10 will fall short when it comes to space and the power. My personal luggage would probably be a fraction of what my kid’s luggage usually is, so then the hunt for a new car begins in October 2013.

Car Hunt
=========
I’ve been always fond of SUVs. The road presence, the ample boot space, the seating and the safety that comes with them were few reasons for which SUVs always fascinated me (not to mention the fantastic ground clearance that most of the SUVs give). The other thing that I was really looking forward to is buy car with automatic transmission. Driving around Bangalore in traffic is so painful and I just needed one car for the family. However, I could not find anything in the 12-15 lakhs range which was also a stretch. So options I considered were:
1) Mahindra XUV W6/W8
2) Nissan Terrano

I’ll not go into the details of why I had them as part of my options list, but they both dropped from my list in a months time. I usually take the company cab to office and so I hardly require the car for my use on weekdays and that's when my wife uses it occasionally. On weekends, its always the family together. So keeping 2 cars was not an option and I decided to swap my i10 with whichever car I go with. With this, XUV fell from the list immediately as my wife would not agree at all to drive the beast. I took the test drive of 85ps diesel Nissan Terrano and really liked the car. The car does have a nice macho look (compared to Duster in my opinion). My wife also really loved the looks but she was hesitant on driving the same and was never fond of diesel cars. My family also kept on stressing that you can never match sedan comfort with any SUV. The absence of AT added to the list as well. This took Terrano off list as well.

I was kind of disappointed with all this and was back to ground zero.

White Unicorn awaits me
=======================
Then I see the launch of 2014 Honda City and was impressed to a certain extent, no wow factor somehow as I had not come out of the SUV hangover. I just reserved it anyways. Then comes the official launch event in January and I was thoroughly impressed that time. Around Jan mid, Honda dealers in Bangalore started getting the display/TD vehicles. It was a weekday and on the way back to office, I dropped down at Dakshin Honda on Lavelle Road (where I had reserved car). As I entered the showroom, there lay in front of me a Silver 2014 Honda City. The sharp lines, the beautiful rear lights, the sparkling interior completely astonished me and I agreed to go for SV CVT. The VX CVT trim was a bit of stretch for me in terms of budget and I knew I would not use lot of the extras coming on the high end trim and spending over 2 lakhs for the same did not convince me to go for VX. The colour was left open. I then started my rounds of the various Honda dealers in Bangalore on regular basis to get a feel of various colors. On one fine day, I visited Whitefield Honda and there was a sparkling White Honda City on display and I was taken aback. It felt as if the White Unicorn is waiting for me and I confirmed the colour with Dakshin. That was me alone at the showroom with my wife at home. We had seen a UTM colour Honda City earlier and she had really liked the colour. But once I showed her the White colour during my second visit to Whitefield Honda, she agreed that it looked better than UTM and a big relief for me to let me have my White Unicorn.

D Day
======
Fast forward to March. I get call from my SA confirming allotment of my car. I’m overjoyed with the news but at same time a bit skeptical as I hadn’t taken a TD (no CVT TD vehicles) and the paddle shifters had been mysteriously taken off from SV CVT variants. The looks of the car and the reliability of Honda’s iVTEC engine made me take the risk and I took the plunge. I got done with all my paperwork and payments and the wait started. Dakshin Honda agreed to take back my i10 and they gave me a pretty good price for that. I paid the difference and was all set. The best part is that I was allowed to keep the car till I get keys of my Unicorn. With only 1 car and 2 kids, this worked out really well for me. Now, I had to wait for one of the auspicious days which happened to be 22nd March (Saturday) for me. My car was ready on Thursday evening itself. Only I know how I have spent those 2 days knowing that my Unicorn is waiting for me but I cannot get her home.

We reach Dakshin honda around 9:00am on 22nd March. I get done with some final paperwork and finally took reigns of my White beauty (came with Michelin XM1 tyres). The entire Dakshin staff was very helpful. The SA Manager Mr. Ajeya, my SA Mr. Jagadish and the Accessory manager Mr. Joseph were always there to answer my queries. I’ve heard some negative stories for Dakshin but I had a pleasant experience.

What I don’t like about my White Unicorn:
=============================
- Folks might find the CVT engine a bit noisier when pushing the accelerator. I however found the noise to be similar to ones you hear from sports car so I’m fine but capturing it on the downside.
- Beige carpets/interiors/side doors are going to be difficult to maintain
- Absence of paddle shifters in SV variant. Though ’S’ and ‘L’ mode would suffice, there will be situations where more control would be required.
- Rubber band effect, though very limited, can be felt when you suddenly push acceleration
- Piano black console is finger print magnet and dust is easily seen on it
- Naked boot lid and no cladding on rear wheel wells

Delivery Time pictures (Sorry for limited ones taken at dealer. We had a time crunch to take delivery before 10:00 am and had to do all the Puja before that and entertain my daughter and she wouldn't let me take pictures of car alone that easily)
My daughter seemed the most excited of the lot to take the White Unicorn home.

Exterior
======

The brand I completely swear by. Initially I found the grill to garish but now I really like them on white and find them pretty bold.

Love the sharp side lines. Notice the Neo Alloys and the wider Michelin Primacy 3ST 195/60R15 in place

Close up of the Alloy Wheels. I was planning to go earlier for Chinese made brands but with guidance of Nikhil, settled for Neo Alloys and I'm glad I did.

No Automatic/CVT Badging which means same badging as Petrol manual variants

Love the rear of car and how the red blends with white. Notice the reverse parking Sensors

Close up of Reverse Parking Sensor: These are painted white on my request. No loss of sensitivity as per dealer and the warranty remains. They work as expected. No display screen or any voice message. Just a set of beeps which becomes constant tone when you are very near obstacle.

In SV variant, ORVM have to folded manually. I somehow feel that they do not fold enough inside. See the gap left once you fold them. My i10 ORVM used to fold much more inside. I'm not sure if same issue is on V/VX model with electrical folding ORVM

Interior
======
Honda has done an amazing job in interiors. Though there will always be room of improvement, I believe this is a welcome change and makes the car feel very premium.

Before I dive into pictures, I wanted to mention few things on Ergonomics side. I get on and off lower back pain and it would always become acute when I used to drive my Manual i10. By the time, I would reach my office (about 1 hour drive from home), my back would be aching pretty badly. However, I'm loving the ergonomics of the driver seat. The back is well supported and I do not feel any pain on lower back while driving. It took me about 5 minutes initially to find the right position but now I'm all set. The dead pedal is so useful, specially in the CVT vehicles that I enjoy the drive. I'm sure that the absence of clutch and the art leather seat cover in place would also be helping here. Lot of times, my wife would have to sit on rear seat with both kids and for her she is loving the comfort on this Unicorn (the 195/60 Michelin tyres are also helping here) compared to that of i10.

Fresh interiors. No Leather wrap on steering wheel. I’ll not be getting any leather cover now. I somehow feel that grip levels are decent and it’ll be more hygienic. Love the cruise control. I was able to activate it beyond 40kmph

Art leather in place. Car Trendz did a really nice job here.

Love the blue color on MID. Notice the ECON light and the blue arc light above speedometer. More about this in Performance section

3 inch Audio console is average. Speakers are nothing great and I found the JBL installed on my i10 much better.

The piano black console is a finger print magnet and dust easily shows up. Folks would really need something like Jopasu mini duster and MF cloths to keep it shiny and clean.

With the 3.5" system, notice that only USB and Power socket are present near cup holder. The Aux input is on the 3.5" system

Light press on indicator activates the left/right signal 3 times. I find it very useful when changing lanes.

Notice the black window switch panels compared to silver given in V/VX Trims. I somehow feel it blends better. The fabric on doors is not a good choice. It’s a very light shade and will easily get dirty.

ECON button. More about this in performance section. Notice the missing electrical fold-able ORVM button on SV trim compared to V/VX.

The extra 'L' Low mode on CVT SV gear box (VX CVT comes with paddle shifters instead). This is to be used when climbing the hill.

Illuminated scuff plates. Though Honda charges a bomb for these, I feel they are well worth.

CVT Sports Pedal. This was recommended by my friends and even the accessory shop as the quality is top notch and adds to the grip levels and elegance. Notice the 3M Nomad mats in place. I have never spent that kind of money on floor mats earlier but with my 2 kids and water/milk always being carried, I think its a worth wile investment. Note that Dead Pedal is covered by mats and I'm still able to use it properly.

At the time of writing this review, I have completed around 200 km and entirely as part of city driving.

The iVTEC Engine

Engine Performance
=============
The iVTEC engine from Honda is very smooth. I believe they are one of the pioneers for Petrol Engines in this segment.

The SV CVT does not come with paddle shifters as mentioned earlier. So for normal driving we have 'D' and 'S' mode. Along with this there is 'ECON' button as well. So it gives you 4 combinations which I'll discuss below. The 'L' mode on SV variant is to be used typically during climbing hilly areas. It's similar to driving car in 1st/2nd gear.

Driving this car is like taming your Unicorn. You need to know how the car behaves and it'll love you back. The blue(pushing engine)/green(fuel efficient) arc lights will also help you to understand how engine works

'D' mode
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This mode is perfect for normal city driving. The pickup is pretty decent. I've been using this most of the time. It was difficult for me to get rpm levels above 2000 under normal conditions. If you push pedal pretty hard, it will definitely shoot rpm needle. Due to CVT engine, the gear ratio changes are pretty smooth.

'D' mode with ECON
-----------------------
Here you can actually feel that performance is getting a bit dampened. Pickup is not that great. I would keep on switching ECON button on and off based on the traffic. A little open patch, and you'll feel that car is not able to pull itself that easily. You'll easily be able to stay in 'Green' arc light most of the time.

Few things here: Even with ECON button on, the arc light can turn blue if you push pedal hard. Also, I could feel the AC fan noise decreasing a bit when I used to press ECON button.

'S' mode
-----------
This mode is a total fun to drive. The pickup is really fast compared to 'D' mode. I'm not missing the paddle shifters at all. As soon as I see a decent open path, I will switch it to 'S' mode and the car zooms. I'm sure that this cannot be compared to Vento TSI DSG engine. Here, I've noticed that the rpm easily touches 3000rpm before going to next gear ratio. The arc light will never go 'Green' here which is sort of expected. I'm trying not to use this mode much in Engine Run in period as it easily pushes rpm to 3000. Also, the fuel consumption will also be much higher here.

'S' mode with ECON
----------------------
Here, I could not notice any difference and could never get the arc light to turn green. Only thing is that I could feel AC blower reducing a bit.

The engine is very powerful and before you realize, you are touching close to 3 digit speeds. When you are at lower gear ration or pushing accelerator a bit hard, you can hear the CVT engine noise. In 'S' mode, however it sounds more like a sports car so I'm fine but as mentioned by GTO, CVT engine is noiser than the traditional ones.

Some pictures of the arc lights and ECON on/off.

Ground Clearance/Suspension
==================
Let me start by:

I'm very impressed with respect to ground clearance. I've gone over weird potholes/speed breakers and it has never touched/scratched under body chassis. I have upgraded my tyres as well to 195/60R15 which adds about 3-4 mm of GC so that could be helping as well.

The suspension seems better now and my wife found ride less bumpier compared to earlier generation Honda City which my brother has. Again, the tyres may be helping on dampening as well when going over pot holes, uneven roads.

Fuel Efficiency
=========
This may be a bit early to comment as I'm trying to understand how CVT engine works. When I did a tank full, it started with around 5.5kmpl on MID and currently is at about 8.5kmpl and increasing slowly. This is purely city driving and that too in traffic. However, I don't expect it to go beyond 11-12 overall and maybe go till 13-14 on pure Highway driving (D mode with ECON and cruise control)

Other things
=========
The car seems very stable with wider tyres. I feel much more confident going at higher speeds and taking sharp turns. Braking power is also pretty good.

Overall, a lovely experience. Just get to understand the CVT engine a bit, and you'll learn how to unleash its power.

These days, I just try to find a reason to spend more time with my White Unicorn.

Congrats neel911 on your latest acquisition. Loved the review and the pictures to go with it. The White color really looks great on the Unicorn. I've started seeing a lot of ANHC's on the road here in my city, but yet to see one in white. I must say very good choice of color, as it looks unique.
Honda has done a really great job with the Honda City regarding the interiors and exteriors, but I wish they had reduced the amount of chrome on the front grille. It looks a bit garish to me, but maybe one starts to like it with time.
The interiors look fab, but I guess one must spend time daily cleaning the fingerprints on the piano black finish as even a small spec of dust shows up on the ICE and the ACC.
Also a few query's,
Does the SV Trim come with foldable keys?
How is the performance of the ACC?
Once again Congrats and keep revvin'.

So finally an ownership review for the SV & petrol variant of Honda City! Congratulations and great writeup. The car looks excellent in white and in my experience white and silver turn out to be the most popular colors in Honda cars in the long run.
Pictures of your daughter reminds me of my sister who was about her age when we took the delivery of our white Civic back in 2006 , she would'nt get out of the car for hours.
The alloy wheels look great , how much did they cost you , can you please provide the breakup of costs of the difference you paid for the tyres and alloy wheels ,i'm planning an upgrade myself when i get the delivery of my car next week.

Congrats neel911 on your latest acquisition. Loved the review and the pictures to go with it. The White color really looks great on the Unicorn. I've started seeing a lot of ANHC's on the road here in my city, but yet to see one in white. I must say very good choice of color, as it looks unique.
Honda has done a really great job with the Honda City regarding the interiors and exteriors, but I wish they had reduced the amount of chrome on the front grille. It looks a bit garish to me, but maybe one starts to like it with time.
The interiors look fab, but I guess one must spend time daily cleaning the fingerprints on the piano black finish as even a small spec of dust shows up on the ICE and the ACC.
Also a few query's,
Does the SV Trim come with foldable keys?
How is the performance of the ACC?
Once again Congrats and keep revvin'.

Thanks a lot.

- Only VX trim comes with fold-able keys
- The AC is pretty powerful and due to rear unit, it helps cool the inside a bit faster. A sun film (clear one) would definitely help but currently its beyond my budget

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

Congrats neel on your new ride. Nice write up and fabulous pics. Thanks for a detailed review on CVT. Could you appreciate any rubber-band effect (wasted revvs) which is typically seen in CVTs?

If you push the pedal hard in D mode and especially "D+Econ" mode, you would feel it more. If you need to accelerate fast, move to 'S' mode and it'll be fine. A little learning is required on how CVT engine works and you'll know how to steer through without experiencing much rubber band effect

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10

Seems like a day of raining reviews.
Congrats and good write up.

Loved the alloys.
Do tell me the cost of Tyres and Alloys as well as difference in ride quality.

Art leather seat covers have enhanced the looks of interior. Good job.

Have already bought the same Honda key chain and really wanted the Live to drive one but it wasn't available in t-bhp store.

Another request- Kindly take a pic of interior at night time. I want to see how 3.5 inch music system looks like at night in comparison to 5 inch one.

Thanks. With the upgraded tyres, I could immediately feel the ride difference and folks in Bangalore would know what I mean and the terrible roads we have to drive on. I'll post some night pics soon but having difficulty in getting good snaps due to low light. The console looks pretty good at night as well and is very light on eyes. See if this one helps but it does not do justice at all:

I actually pre-selected mushroom color to make it low on maintenance but when I put sample, it didn't look that good as once you close the doors, the light beige fabric on doors would look very off from the dark mushroom shade. So then went for a bit lighter shade. The quality is top notch and I'm finding it very easy to clean.

Many Congratulations! My neighbours bought the same car yesterday; its a 2014 metallic grey I-Vtec 'V' variant with a manual transmission. I sat in it and absolutely loved the interiors! I hope the new car serves you well!

Congratulation man! Fantastic choice, of both the car & the color. The instruments panel & the interiors look top notch premium. And good that you upgraded the tyres. IMO, giving the City such puny tyres from the factory is grave injustice.
Wish you many many happy miles ahead!

Indeed AT cars are a pleasure to drive. I know many who own Honda City AT currently (older versions) and even after all these years, they still love their ride and it still rides like 'new' they claim.

I too have the illuminated "CITY" scuff plates and agree with you, although cost for them is on higher side by Honda, they really look nice and are worth it. The seat covers & 3M floor mats also look neat.

The FE figures you've indicated for your City & highway drives look reasonable, as those are the figures +- few others I know who have the 2012 City V AT are also getting. But let me tell you, for the sheer comfort & pleasure you will get driving a City AT, it is well worth it.